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Aren't they the spyware kings? Can I really actually trust these people with software I install on my computer?

So far the Mac OS X world has been generally free of spyware and malware. Looking at this Skype release, I feel like the Native Americans watching the first wave of pilgrims coming off the boat, smiling and wanting to trade smallpox-infected blankets with us.

Great move for Skype, anything that lets people on different platforms use the same software and interact freely with each other is a good thing. I speak from a the perspective of a Mac OS X user. However, the OS X port isn't all the way there - at least Skype admits it. From their FAQ page:

I click on the links that say "Skype Me" but it does not seem to work?
Sorry, in some cases SkypeMe links do not currently work with Skype for Mac OS X.

Hopefully they can iron out that little quirk and we can get Skype everywhere. Now I'm going to have to check this thing out for myself!

It's a pity that Skype doesn't comply with any. It's almost inevitable that they'll leverage for their own financial benefit their customer lockin at some point in the future, just like Microsoft do with their closed file formats.

According to several sources, spyware is still Windows [theregister.co.uk] only. That may someday change, but I haven't even been able to get the few viruses I have tried to install correctly inside of wine yet...

You're naive. OK, sorry. That was rude, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, the difference is that under MacOSX and Linux, you must opt to install spyware... it won't be installed by browsing the net. In fact, someone could create a fully open source spyware program! Then all you'd have to do is convince people to install it. That's the easy part. The other thing is that if one luser installs spyware, the other users are not adversely affected.

In other words, you are saying it's very hard to install spyware on a Linux or Mac and therefore no one actually codes spyware for the Mac because they neither get enough people to be worth while nor is it as easy as say on a windows box and therefore no effective spyware programs exist.

I would much rather you have said "yes you are naive, here are a list of Spyware apps for Linux and Mac." Instead you basically said "Yes it's possible to get spyware on your Mac or Linux box if someone bothered to code it and someone went around their ass to get to their elbow." What kind of logic is that? There is no rock hard evidence that either platform has any kind of penetration into spyware common on the PC.

PS, I just googled spyware for mac [google.com] and found discussions on spyware, adds for PC spyware, and a mac company I'd never heard before with a broken website that promise a list of mac spyware "coming soon" and a forum that hasn't been updated by anyone in the company for over 6 months.

What motivation do you have to trust them? I'm not saying it is spyware, but rather that to simply say that since they say it isn't it can't be is a tad naive. As far as things go, yes, they could get sued for false advertising if it is false, but I don't know how much that scares Sharman.

Nope. Not that I've found, and I've been using the betas for both Linux and OS X up to the release today. Both work pretty well, and I get the feeling that Skype is pretty clueful as far as spyware goes. I mean, they encrypt communication by deafult.

I have noticed some problems though with both the 1.0.0.1 release of Linux and OS X's 1.0.0.0. I would think it's my machine only, but testing Skype requires (okay there is that echo account for testing, but you know what I mean) others, and others ahve been having problems too.

In Linux, I've had problems getting conferencing working properly, when using a USB headset (/dev/dsp1), rings are not heard on the/dev/dsp as set in the preferences. Also, I had a weird thing happen where the skype screen is only half-drawn.

In the 1.0 Mac version, someone who I was talking to suddenly cut out. Turned out Skype crashed on 'em. I also had some conferencing issues on my mac.

Overall however, skype is great. The fact that you can do conferencing + IMs and voice chat is encrypte is a big plus. the sound quality is great as well. Congrats Skype!

This is a common misconception - Skype is owned by the same people who created the FastTrack protocol used in KaZaA amongst other filesharing applications - the actual KaZaA application is distributed by Sharman Networks who are a Vanatu-based company who are responsible for the spyware present in KaZaA.

Be careful with things like that. It's against the law in some places to record a telephone conversation without the knowledge of the other party. Linda Tripp, the infamous friend of Monica Lewinsky, faced criminal charges for that.

[Statute]Definitions1. The term "wire communication" means any communication made in whole or in part through the use of facilities for the transmission of communications by the aid of wire, cable, or other like connection between the point of origin and the point of reception.

2. The term "oral communication" means speech, except such speech as is transmitted

It's a phone conversation if you use SkypeOut to call another telephone. It may qualify as a phone conversation (or a recording-restricted conversation in general) even if it's just between Skype, however. The law is not nearly as stupid as everybody on slashdot seems to think, and these kinds of technicalities rarely matter.

Now I'm only waiting for some conversations recording feature.
I'm not positive, as I haven't used Skype, but I think that Audio Hijack [versiontracker.com] will likely record such items just fine. It wouldn't be automated, although it probably wouldn't be too hard to automate it with some Applescript, and maybe some Unix scripting on the backside.

... is always going to be problematic given the legal implications. Different states have different laws, and things only get worse once you factor in the international implications. (Come to the EU and you have to deal with data protection problems as well as interception of communications problems.) So I don't see Skype offering this anytime soon.

The Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press has a superb guide ("Can we tape?") to state and federal laws: http://www.rcfp.org/taping/ [rcfp.org].

It is true, there are "girls" out there to talk to. I regularly use Skype to talk to a girl I met online. Her name is Bruce. Her voice is just so husky from a throat infection. We are going to meet in real life one day real soon!

Although I don't use it on Linux or Mac OS X, Skype works pretty well, voice quality is good, and the NAT traversal is nice - not so much with me, but it saves me from guiding technology-challenged family members and friends through opening ports in their firewall/router, having them read the screen out loud for you can't guess what options are on the screen (quite a pain).

But the nicest thing I did is buy a Skype box (the kind that plugs in your RJ11 and phone "passing thru" the POTS, and the USB port plugs to your PC, allowing you to use a real phone on skype - including having the phone ring (don't have to leave your 5.1 channel set of speakers on in case the "phone" would ring, no need turn monitor on and fumble with all that to take the call). It lets one dial out skype contacts easily too (my 53yo mom can make skype calls with it without having the slightest idea of how it all works).

It's great overall, however it's a bit more complicated, especially given that my "POTS" line is actually coming from a VoIP box. So I have an extra digit to dial on all numbers (1 then the number) for the VoIP box, and the Skype box has some buttons too. Not really hard, just slightly inconvenient, but great savings and features.

I wonder if those USB Skype box thingies will also work with Linux or Mac OS X, they're worth it (unlike the USB Skype phones with a short cord that looks like from a dollar store).

Is it legal to record conversations on POTS?
If not, is it legal on VoIP, since perhaps the Internet doesn't fall under regular wire-tapping laws?
Oh BTW, maybe reference back to the/. story a few days back about Google apparently starting a VoIP product (at least in the UK, which was the source of the article) in the near future. I think we can assume that if Google doing VoIP is true, they'll have a way to record coversations.

"The federal law makes it unlawful to record telephone conversations except in one party consent cases which permit one party consent recording by state law. What that means is a person can record their own telephone conversations without the knowledge or consent of the other party in those states that allow one party consent."

Otherwise you pay for calls to a standard landline or cell user. You can get unlimited voip from at&t to calls in the U.S. (and I think canada) for a flat rate that's relatively low if you use it a lot.

If you want to use it like a regular phone, I have to recommend Vonage. Really easy to setup, my GF uses the phone just like normal without having to know the internet is even involved - you can call anyone in any country. $15 a month gets me some insane number of minutes I never get close to using and all the addons like voicemail etc. International calls are also cheap, and I have a virtual number in the UK which allows people there to call me (in the US) for the cost of a local call.

Actually, considering that a call to Germany, for instance, costs 5 cents a minute using AT&T voip, and the same call using Skype would run 2 cents a minute. If you made a lot of international calls then Skype looks like the way to go. If you are in the U.S. and make a lot of domestic calls (more than 1500 minutes) then the AT&T solution would be better at $30 a month (probably not including taxes which would push the number of break-even minutes up). My only question about the Skype thing is the

Ya, I'm using a Logitech Freedom(?) Bluetooth headset with my Powerbook and it works great. Sound effects come through the Mac and Skype is setup to pipe its audio and mic through the headset. My office says it sounds very good.

Im using a Motorola HS820 headset and D-Link DBT-120 Bluetooth Adapter with my powerbook. Works great.
Two very important things though if you are using OS X:
1)You MUST use either the D-Link DBT-120 Bluetooth Adapter or the Apple internal Bluetooth. Headsets are not supported with any other adapter but these.
2)You must upgrade the Bluetooth Firmware
I wasted the better part of an afternoon with a iogear(?) bluetooth dogle before I was able to find it wasn't gong to work.
Also I found that I had to turn the "Input level" all the way up in the Sound Preference pane, so other people can hear me. The output volume works with the buttons on the headset which is great.
Good Luck

Yes. I was given a Jabra [jabra.com] headset for my birthday and it works fine with Skype, iChat and my ancient Nokia phone. It's also very comfortable, tiny and sorta space-age. The only catch is you can't pair it to your phone and Mac at the same time and it's a slight pain to try to re-pair it in a hurry. I tend not to use it with my phone, and occasionaly use it at work if i want to Skype or iChat and not annoy my workmates any more than me talking on the phone would.

I just discovered Skype about a week ago. I was thrilled upon seeing that there was a Linux version, even if beta. I live in Ecuador and badly wanted a way to call the States cheap, but was unwilling to put Windows on my computer for that purpose.

Experiences: Downloaded their version from skype.com. Ran it. It instantly hung on the registration screen. Ran it as root, and that worked.

Then realized that it was in Gentoo's portage. Emerged it. It started OK, but crashed immediately upon trying to make a call.

Went back to the first version I had downloaded, running as root, and everything worked fine!

Normally, there's little I hate more than running closed-source software as root, but I'll forgive them this time since 1) it's a beta, 2) they're bringing a valuable service to Linux, and 3) from what I can tell, they are a reputable company with a reputation to tarnish if it did something bad to my box. (Also, my personal box isn't *that* important anyway, and could be re-installed worst case scenario.)

I will try this new version tonight. If the issues are fixed and I can run as non-root, I'll be very happy! If not, I'll be mildly annoyed but still thankful.

For about a year and a half, I had to locate myself in Philly while keeping operations of our company up and running in California. My business partner and I had weekly meetings, starting out with Chat on OS X, then audio chat. When we discovered Skype, we switched to that. We found that it seemed to work a bit better. I even used my PS 2 USB headset (originally purchased for SOCOM II) and enjoyed the experience.

Granted, we used it on a very basic level...simply for online chat. I'm looking forward to bigger and better uses, especially loading it onto a wifi-enabled PDA and using it as a "cell phone".

Yes, these are the guys that invented Kazaa. Which was an amazing app!
They then sold it too some other evil company that added more and more spyware each version.
If I'm not mistaken, the original kazaa merely had harmless ads.
Don't confuse the original kazaa with its' current beastly incarnation!
I remember my first time using kazaa/morpheus, it was quite cool.
Those guys sold kazaa and went on to develop this more legit app, and the world is better for it, I believe.

The Reason that they have no spyware , is because they offer a service called Skypeouthttp://www.skype.com/products/skypeout/ [skype.com], A telephone service allowing you to call an outside line, which of course you have to pay for

And billing complaints aside (there are many, unfortunately), Skypeout works beautifully. I can make clear calls from the US to any landline Europe, no problem. At around 2 cents a minute. Calls to European mobiles aren't all that cheap though.

I've been using Skype on Windows for some time now. It works really well overall, and especially the PC2PC sound quality is excellent. Usually as good or better than a local landline call.

I have also been using SkypeOut, their 1.7 Euro cent/minute (2.2 US cents). SkypeOut has saved me a lot of cash, both in international calls from home and when making calls from hotels when traveling. Yep, Skype gets out of the usually heavily blocked hotel networks! So instead of being stuck paying exorbitant hotel long distance rates I pay the standard SkypeOut rate. Awesome!

Except.... Skype now refuses to take my credit card to buy more pre-paid SkypeOut credit. I've tried 3 different cards, all of which work on Amazon US and Japan as well as various other sites. No go.:( I contacted their "live support" chat option but was told that Skype is having issues with their card approval company.

Yes, I have the same problem, so no Skypeout for me. If you check the Skypeout forum [skype.com] you'll see that many other people have this problem, and that the Skype people don't seem to have any solution.

I've been using Skype for Mac for a little while now, and I'm impressed with the quality of the UI on Mac OS X, and the fact that they're supporting four (count them, four) platforms with fully native interfaces on each platform. That's not something to sneeze at (we have enough problems with two where I work). These guys seem to really get attention to detail.

Just the fact that they can afford to do the UIs as well as they have, as fast as they have, hints at how lucrative their SkypeOut business is.

Oh give me a break, maybe his comment didn't deserve a moderation up, but he is NOT a troll. Oh well, hopefully some moderators will rectify this problem - and somebody can provide a nice concise answer of what exactly Skype is, and why we should care.

Well, from where I am, the site took a long time to load, which made me think, "Hey, if I'm having trouble, others might too -- maybe somebody can clarify for those of us who are having trouble accessing the site, since the article doesn't really say what the product is".

You know what, you're right -- I guess that line of thinking DID merit a troll mod and your jackass reply. What was I thinking???

In California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington, IT IS ILLEGAL to record conversations without the consent of ALL parties involved.

And if you are engaging in a telephone conversation across state lines, you are subject to federal regulations as well.

Federal and FCC regulations are "one-party" regulations. Only one party, that's you, needs to know the conversation is being recorded. However, this applies to private, non-commercial, conversations only. Business have different rules.

You are correct that several states do have additional laws in place, however, not all of them mentioned need all parties involved to be aware. Some are "two-party" regulations where two of people in the conversation need know, even if it's a three way call.At least ac [pimall.com]

Skype is special only in that it works behind a firewall, in my opinion.

I would not have even started using it, but the alternatives (linphone, kphone, gnome-meeting, etc) either had to have ports opened on the firewalls of both parties involved in communication, or wouldn't work at all unless DMZ'ed (h323 wont work behind firewalls gnome-meeting/netmeeting).

This is a big deal to mostly due to the possibility of talking to non-geeks, you know, people who don't know what ports are, unless you count thos

Between Adium [adiumx.com] for MSN, Skype for outgoing calls (from me when I needed to make them, and incoming calls from my friends who all were on skype), and email I had my communication covered.

This also had the only slightly intended benefit of freeing me from having to rush to answer the phone, ever, or having annoying group members be able to call me. Depending on how you choose to live your life, you don't have to be at anyone's call. You're n